To test the possibility of community steering through application of soil inocula in the field byanalysing a large-scale, well-replicated, soil inoculation experiment on soils that had been used forarable farming for several decades.

Type of Study:

Large-scale field experiment and mesocosm experiment

Key Results:

Results showed that soil inoculation can promote ecological restoration in the field.Depending on the origin of the soil inoculum the restoration site could be steered to become either grassland or heathland.Mesocosm experiment showed thatwhen differences in seed availability are alleviated, soil inoculation can still steer vegetation composition.